Inc. Leadership Forum

I drove down to the Inc Leadership Forum last week on Sunday. Breaking away from the routine and surrounding myself with other entrepreneurs was super appealing. Truth be told—two weeks prior I had received an email invite to the conference. Three pages long with over a dozen speakers and their bios and there was just one name that popped up. B-R-E-N-E B-R-O-W-N. I don’t mean to over dramatize… or maybe I do. If you haven’t already, watch her Ted Talk on vulnerability. I believe she has the most watched talk with over 8 million views. Brene pulled me to San Diego and I wasn’t going to miss her.

Front and center one hour before Brene took the stage, I was ready notepad and pen in hand. The best way to download is to share my notes from her talk:

“We can’t take people professionally where we can’t go personally.” How true!

“Who we are as people is exactly who we are as leaders.” Crazy true!

“There are things we fear hearing about ourselves that keep us small” A little uncomfortable but so true.

“You can choose comfort or you can choose courage. They do not co-exist. If you are going to be in the arena you are going to be pushed around.” This is in response to the Teddy Roosevelt quote about showing up and daring greatly. Quote below.

“Successful entrepreneurs: Have a willingness to be vulnerable and a sense of self worth.” Oh, yes!

“There can be zero innovation without vulnerability.” Absolutely true!

The Man in the Arena- Teddy Roosevelt April 23, 1910

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."